The development of \"composition\" out of larger rhetorical studies in American
colleges and universities has narrowed the scope of rhetorical training our students
receive, most notably excluding the political and social dimensions of persuasion. This
dissertation is an attempt to recover the larger political and civic scope that was the
original focus of rhetoric. I join a growing chorus of voices seeking to bring classroom
practice to bear on the larger social and civic lives of our students. My approach is
original in that it blends classical rhetoric with contemporary ideological theory to derive
a pedagogy that will allow students to see the importance of rhetoric and persuasion in
their lives and provide them with a techne, a set of skills that can be used to analyze and
generate discourse for a variety of audiences, including academic ones.
I begin by showing that current-traditional composition methodologies and
theories do not allow for students to productively generate social and civic discourse, a
significant change in rhetoric study. Because of the lack of civic and ideological focus,
students tend to parrot the arguments they are exposed to without truly examining their
underlying principles. The origin of this \"formalist\" approach lies in the peculiar
response to an expanding student population and a new model of the university that
began to take shape in The United States in the nineteenth century. Increasingly undertrained
students were faced with a curriculum that demanded an ever-increasing
specialization of its scholars. As a result, remedial efforts at training newer students to
write \"academic\" prose became standard practice.
As an alternative, I propose a composition course based on classical rhetorical
principles. Concepts such as ethos, pathos, and logos; decorum; enthymemic reasoning;
and audience analysis are central to argumentation in both the contemporary era and in
the classical age. However, contemporary understandings of ideology as the underlying
motivation for most human belief and behavior must be taken into consideration. By
incorporating contemporary ideological theory into classical rhetorical theory, this project
will provide a pedagogical model that will allow students to participate more fully in the
civic arena, and give them a set of skills that can be used in academic settings, thus
remaining true to the larger civic nature of rhetoric, while fulfilling institutional goals for
composition classes.
","abstract_html":"<p>The development of "composition" out of larger rhetorical studies in American</p><p>colleges and universities has narrowed the scope of rhetorical training our students</p><p>receive, most notably excluding the political and social dimensions of persuasion. This</p><p>dissertation is an attempt to recover the larger political and civic scope that was the</p><p>original focus of rhetoric. I join a growing chorus of voices seeking to bring classroom</p><p>practice to bear on the larger social and civic lives of our students. My approach is</p><p>original in that it blends classical rhetoric with contemporary ideological theory to derive</p><p>a pedagogy that will allow students to see the importance of rhetoric and persuasion in</p><p>their lives and provide them with a techne, a set of skills that can be used to analyze and</p><p>generate discourse for a variety of audiences, including academic ones.</p><p>I begin by showing that current-traditional composition methodologies and</p><p>theories do not allow for students to productively generate social and civic discourse, a</p><p>significant change in rhetoric study. Because of the lack of civic and ideological focus,</p><p>students tend to parrot the arguments they are exposed to without truly examining their</p><p>underlying principles. The origin of this "formalist" approach lies in the peculiar</p><p>response to an expanding student population and a new model of the university that</p><p>began to take shape in The United States in the nineteenth century. Increasingly undertrained</p><p>students were faced with a curriculum that demanded an ever-increasing</p><p>specialization of its scholars. As a result, remedial efforts at training newer students to</p><p>write "academic" prose became standard practice.</p><p>As an alternative, I propose a composition course based on classical rhetorical</p><p>principles. Concepts such as ethos, pathos, and logos; decorum; enthymemic reasoning;</p><p>and audience analysis are central to argumentation in both the contemporary era and in</p><p>the classical age. However, contemporary understandings of ideology as the underlying</p><p>motivation for most human belief and behavior must be taken into consideration. By</p><p>incorporating contemporary ideological theory into classical rhetorical theory, this project</p><p>will provide a pedagogical model that will allow students to participate more fully in the</p><p>civic arena, and give them a set of skills that can be used in academic settings, thus</p><p>remaining true to the larger civic nature of rhetoric, while fulfilling institutional goals for</p><p>composition classes.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Braud, Donovan Sean"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:55:08Z","subjects":["Classical Rhetoric","Composition","Ideology","Rhetoric","Rhetoric and Composition"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/167","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Braud, Donovan Sean"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-03-31T17:08:36Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Classical Rhetoric","Composition","Ideology","Rhetoric","Rhetoric and Composition"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/167"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The development of \"composition\" out of larger rhetorical studies in American
colleges and universities has narrowed the scope of rhetorical training our students
receive, most notably excluding the political and social dimensions of persuasion. This
dissertation is an attempt to recover the larger political and civic scope that was the
original focus of rhetoric. I join a growing chorus of voices seeking to bring classroom
practice to bear on the larger social and civic lives of our students. My approach is
original in that it blends classical rhetoric with contemporary ideological theory to derive
a pedagogy that will allow students to see the importance of rhetoric and persuasion in
their lives and provide them with a techne, a set of skills that can be used to analyze and
generate discourse for a variety of audiences, including academic ones.
I begin by showing that current-traditional composition methodologies and
theories do not allow for students to productively generate social and civic discourse, a
significant change in rhetoric study. Because of the lack of civic and ideological focus,
students tend to parrot the arguments they are exposed to without truly examining their
underlying principles. The origin of this \"formalist\" approach lies in the peculiar
response to an expanding student population and a new model of the university that
began to take shape in The United States in the nineteenth century. Increasingly undertrained
students were faced with a curriculum that demanded an ever-increasing
specialization of its scholars. As a result, remedial efforts at training newer students to
write \"academic\" prose became standard practice.
As an alternative, I propose a composition course based on classical rhetorical
principles. Concepts such as ethos, pathos, and logos; decorum; enthymemic reasoning;
and audience analysis are central to argumentation in both the contemporary era and in
the classical age. However, contemporary understandings of ideology as the underlying
motivation for most human belief and behavior must be taken into consideration. By
incorporating contemporary ideological theory into classical rhetorical theory, this project
will provide a pedagogical model that will allow students to participate more fully in the
civic arena, and give them a set of skills that can be used in academic settings, thus
remaining true to the larger civic nature of rhetoric, while fulfilling institutional goals for
composition classes.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Radicis: Ideology, Argument, and Composition Courses in American Colleges"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Braud, Donovan Sean"],"dc:date.available":["2016-03-31T17:08:36Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The development of \"composition\" out of larger rhetorical studies in American
colleges and universities has narrowed the scope of rhetorical training our students
receive, most notably excluding the political and social dimensions of persuasion. This
dissertation is an attempt to recover the larger political and civic scope that was the
original focus of rhetoric. I join a growing chorus of voices seeking to bring classroom
practice to bear on the larger social and civic lives of our students. My approach is
original in that it blends classical rhetoric with contemporary ideological theory to derive
a pedagogy that will allow students to see the importance of rhetoric and persuasion in
their lives and provide them with a techne, a set of skills that can be used to analyze and
generate discourse for a variety of audiences, including academic ones.
I begin by showing that current-traditional composition methodologies and
theories do not allow for students to productively generate social and civic discourse, a
significant change in rhetoric study. Because of the lack of civic and ideological focus,
students tend to parrot the arguments they are exposed to without truly examining their
underlying principles. The origin of this \"formalist\" approach lies in the peculiar
response to an expanding student population and a new model of the university that
began to take shape in The United States in the nineteenth century. Increasingly undertrained
students were faced with a curriculum that demanded an ever-increasing
specialization of its scholars. As a result, remedial efforts at training newer students to
write \"academic\" prose became standard practice.
As an alternative, I propose a composition course based on classical rhetorical
principles. Concepts such as ethos, pathos, and logos; decorum; enthymemic reasoning;
and audience analysis are central to argumentation in both the contemporary era and in
the classical age. However, contemporary understandings of ideology as the underlying
motivation for most human belief and behavior must be taken into consideration. By
incorporating contemporary ideological theory into classical rhetorical theory, this project
will provide a pedagogical model that will allow students to participate more fully in the
civic arena, and give them a set of skills that can be used in academic settings, thus
remaining true to the larger civic nature of rhetoric, while fulfilling institutional goals for
composition classes.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/167"],"dc:subject":["Classical Rhetoric","Composition","Ideology","Rhetoric","Rhetoric and Composition"],"dc:title":["Radicis: Ideology, Argument, and Composition Courses in American Colleges"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:55:08Z"}